Playing with Plying

fiber: merino/silk blend with shetland lock inclusions

added between the plies

granny stacked and wrapped

stretching my boundaries

playing with plying

Inspired by: Maxfield Parrish

oh obsessions.

sometimes they are fruitless,

ending in hours spent trolling the internet for photos and information.

and other times...

times like this...

I become motivated to the point of creation.

moved by his brilliant color schemes,

I cleaned and dyed half a merino fleece,

blended bunches of batts,

spun yards and yards of singles

and then plied and plied.

 

Thanks for the inspiration

Maxfield Parrish

xoxo 

www.nessaland.com

Sewing, Socializing & Spinning

I go through spurts.

Spurts of

baking, blogging, book reading

dabbling, drawing, dyeing

sewing, socializing, spinning

This week I conquered the three S's

[ess's?]

sewing:

Made a stack of newborn fitted diapers with the EZdipe pattern. Tried production line style sewing and it worked out really well. Cut one day, Sew the next, Turn and Topstitch the next. Now they just need snaps!

socializing:

I had my first zoo experience this week with my sister-in-laws and their kids. Caught these two little animals banging on the bongos!

spinning:

"Yarn of my Dreams" Take III - 200 yards of worsted to bulky 2ply, alpaca, merino, shetland, latte silk, banana silk, & tencel neps. Soon to be an Oslo Anorak sweater for my little one.

xoxo

Etsy Yarn Update!

Shop update tonight! (6pm Mountain Time)
www.nessaland.etsy.com

Baby Bunting: Work in Progress...

using this pattern:

from this book:
 
with my handspun yarn:

I brought my wheel to a spinning group last night and totally forgot the major component to my project... a core yarn! So I played around with core-less core-spinning. It's definitely one of my favorite techniques, but I prefer to use combed top as the base to spin the fluffy batt around - otherwise it gets messy. and tedious. and takes forever.

Here you can see the difference; 
Above, core-less core-spun. It's much more dense and confined.
Below, core-spun (with a thin nylon yarn). Super lofty and frizzy, seems like it will pill a lot quicker, but so soft and squishy. Also uses way less fiber!

The fiber for this yarn came from the aplaca farm in Florence (read more about that here). This particular fleece was shorn off of Joshua. He was a pretty clean fellow so I didn't bother washing before spinning, instead I shook it out, sent it through my picker a few times, and carded it up. The pink and orange wool locks are unknown bits from my fiber stash.

We'll see if you can notice the difference in the yarn once it's all knat up! 

Light, camera, yarn

These are the first yarny pictures I've taken in the new place. Testing out a new photography location. I like the light so far.

 
Now there is just one question to ask:
To knit a cowl...
or a hat.

happy yarn, happy hats...

...happy friends
:-)


grey - alpaca and wool.
orange - merino, mohair, various wools.
black - merino


this was my first jump into coreless core-spinning.
boy am I ever hooked!
this was mostly spun as a single
with random bunches of coreless core-spun parts.
I absolutley LOVE this process.
I also adore how it knits up,
and it seems much more stable than regular core-spinning.
(much more dense. my reg. core-spun yarns are always super airy)

entirely customly-handmade for this strapping young fellow!
(designed, dyed/blended, spun & knit)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _

I'm so pleased you like it, Aaron!

find yours at www.nessaland.com

Super Secret Spinning Secrets: least favorite thing.

let me indulge you in a secret.
my absolute,
least favorite thing...
...about spinning
...is...

drafting,

yes, that's right.
I said it...drafting.



I hate dislike it a whole lot.
I find it rather tedious,
time consuming,
and frustrating.
my hands are always super sore after,
and it squashes my mood to spin.



...yet, I just can't spin without drafting.
maybe my hands don't work fast enough,
or I don't comprehend how it works -
spinning and drafting,
simultaneously.
blasphemy!



well, that's my secret.
what's yours?

handspun hats

oh winter



scraptastica



oh conspiracies



food matters



I haven't been into hat-knitting lately;
these were all finished last month.
I hope I get my mojo back soon,
as I have three custom hat orders to work on!

what to do with left-over singles?

scraptastica!
(what to do with all those left-over-on-the-bobbin-singles??)

I've had an inch, or so, of left-over yarn on my bobbins for months now.
I just attach whatever new fiber I'm working on, to the previous yarn, and spin away.
and whatever doesn't get used from that bunch get's left on the bobbin as well.
see my ever-accumulating dilemma?

well I finally got sick of my cluttered bobbins the other day,
and decided to ply all this abandoned yarn together.
behold...
scraptastica!
44 yards
4 WPI

it's mostly merino.
cochineal dyed, blue, black, red and purple.
and when I ran out of the bobbin yarn,
I went for my stash of knitting yarn!
(I have bundles of left-overs
ranging from one to ten yards)

this chunky masterpiece will lend itself nicely to a thick winter hat!

what do you do with your left-overs?

HandSpun Hats

ever hear of magic mend? it's a blend of oils that help ease joint/muscle pain. seriously amazing for my arthritic, twenty year old, knitting hands! unfortunately, I can't find it online, but Heartstone Herbals sells it in Ithaca, ny.

the business of being born, merino wool, local llama, local cormo and other bits 'n bobs. (I started naming my hats after the documentary I watched whilst knitting. is that weird?? har har, some of them are a little bizarre...)

this one is for a good friend of mine who lost her family (llamas, sheep, goats, horses, bunnies) due to a silly technicality. I want her to know, she is appreciated for being such a loving lady, so I knit her a hat with her very own llama fiber!

I just wish I were invincible so I could spin and knit a new creation each day. that would be glorious!